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ASK THE EXPERT SERIES INTERVIEW WITH AN UPCOMING 6TH GRADER

Today I'm excited to interview Malorie, an upcoming 6th grader. She's Dustin Hansen's daughter, one of our followers. And even more awesome, IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Malorie. I hope you have a fun birthday and thanks for joining us.

1.Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your school, and what you like to read.

My name is Malorie Hansen and I love to read. I’m almost in the 6th grade and my hobbies are skating, reading, playing with pets (chickens, dog, cat, turkeys, ducks, goats) and acting in plays. As you can tell, I’m a farm girl.
My favorite thing to read is adventure and fantasy books like Percy Jackson, Farworld, Goose Girl and The Frog Princess. I love The Healing Wars by Janice Hardy –the girls in the books remind me of me and my sister. I also love Shel Silverstein.

2. We share a lot of the same tastes in books. I loved the Percy Jackson series, Goose Girl, and The Healing Wars too. How do you find out about the books you read? What about new books coming out?

Mostly from my friends and family. They usually say stuff like, “Hey Malorie, have you read this book?” and then if it looks good I read it.

3. What are you reading now? What books are you waiting to be released?

Frog Princess and a book by my 5th grade teacher, Mr. Jones called Buffalo Days. It’s pretty funny and he is a great reader so it makes it more fun.
I can’t wait for Farworld 3 and book 3 of The Healing Wars – Darkfall.

4. I can't wait for Darkfall either. FYI I'm interviewing Janice Hardy and giving away an ARC of DARKFALL on October 10th so have your dad enter my contest for you. Do you buy most of your book or get them at the library? How often do you go to a bookstore?

Both – evenly. We live far away from a bookstore now – GOSH DARNIT! But my parents let me buy them on my dad’s iPad. I love reading on the iPad but I can’t take it to school.
Also, I love looking through books on Amazon and downloading sample pages. Once I got a book that looked good but there were swear words in the sample so we didn’t buy it. I like that.

5. I'm jealous. I don't have an iPad. Do you read any teen book blogs, author blogs, or author or publisher websites? Become a fan of an author on Facebook? Why?

I don’t read any blogs. I really don’t even know what they are, but I do LIKE some books and authors I like on Facebook. Shannon Hale, Janice Hardy, J. Scott Savage and Shel Silverstein. It’s cool to see what the authors have to say, but J. Scott Savage won’t tell me when his book is coming out. It’s driving me crazy!

6. That's awesome that you follow authors on Facebook. Has your teacher recommended any blogs or websites to your class or to you?

Nope.

7. Are there things your favorite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook?

Sneak peeks about their books or deleted chapters like the deleted scenes on DVD’s. I’ve been to a couple of writer websites, but they are mostly for other writers. None of them are for kids like me so I usually just check out Amazon on the iPad for writers.

8. Those are great tips.Have any authors visited your school? Who? Is there anything you’d recommend that an author do to make their presentation more interesting to you and other kids at your school?

Yes. Brandon Mull came and he was hilarious. He read from his book and then answered a lot of questions. He was funny and he really liked us. That makes a big difference. It would be great if the authors could do a drawing or something so that kids could get a chance to win a signed copy of the book.

Thanks so much Malorie for giving us all your great advice. Have a great birthday. I hope everyone will wish Malorie a happy birthday in the comments. What do you think of her suggestions for author websites? They sound like great ideas to me.

Don't forget to enter my contest here for one copy of NIGHTSHADE. To enter the contest, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on July 23rd. I’ll announce the winner on July 25th.

Next week I’ll be interviewing Amy Holder and giving away a copy of THE LIPSTICK LAWS. She has an amazing story about her road to publication that you won’t want to miss.

And on August 1st I'll be interviewing Stephanie Burgis and giving away a copy of KAT INCORRIGIBLE.

And I just found out that WriteOnCon has an awesome contest where you could win $1000.00 and get a chance to have your work represented by Catherine Drayton. Check out the details here.

See you next Monday!

21 comments:

Wendy Chen said...

Happy birthday Malorie! Your interview was so fun to read. Hope you have a great day!

You're going to give away a copy of Darkfall? You've got me excited now. xD

Natalie Aguirre said...

Happy Birthday Malorie! Thanks for sharing all your great advice. I hope you have a special day today.

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday, Malorie! It was great to read your interview--the first of many, I'm sure. All best wishes to you!

Tom M Franklin said...

well done, Malorie! thanks for sharing a bit of your world with us.

(it sounds like you might have the makings of a book there, too)

and happy birthday!


-- Tom

Kristin Lenz said...

Happy Birthday, Malorie! I especially like your idea about authors sharing deleted chapters/scenes like they do with movies.

Michael G-G said...

Malorie, I hope you're having a great birthday. You've got awesome taste in books!

Natalie, I love these interviews. And I'd love to win Nightshade. Just sayin'!

Janice Hardy said...

Happy birthday Malorie! I hope it's a great one. Thanks for letting Natalie interview you and sharing how you feel about books. I'm so honored to be included with those other awesome authors :)You made my day.

I LOVED your idea about a giveaway during school visits. I'm totally doing that from now on. Thanks for the idea!

Unknown said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MALORIE! Excellent interview!

Angela Brown said...

Happy birthday, Malorie! Awesome interview and really informative. It's nice getting some great thoughts from your perspective as a reader. You gave some great ideas.

May this and all your birthdays be joyful and fun.

Casey McCormick said...

Happy Birthday, Malorie! Fantastic interview. All the bookstores in my town closed, so I don't have one close by anymore. I totally echo your GOSH DARNIT! and I'm so glad your dad lets you read on his iPad (go Dustin!). Happy reading!

~Casey

The Pen and Ink Blogspot said...

Happy Birthday Malorie
I love The Frog Princess too. I'm going to have to read the Healer Wars.
Have you tried Tamora Pierce's Books? The First series starts with Alanna, a girl who wants to train to be a knight. and the next four are set in the same world and they are about Veralidaine Sarrasri, a girl who's a wild mage who can talk to animals.
Thanks for the tips for author visits.

erica and christy said...

Happy birthday, Malorie! You seem to have similar tastes in books as my son (who's a soon-to-be 5th grader) and he hasn't read a couple of the books you mentioned, so thanks for the tips!

And I agree with the blogs and websites - they usually are geared toward writers and not their target audiences. I typically don't recommend them to my son, either, unless there's a book to be won.
erica

Dustin Hansen said...

Malorie's Dad here, acting as The Birthday Girl's scribe.

Thanks Natalie for letting me do the interview. Having it come out on my birthday is especially great.

Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes, it's turning out to be a great one. I giggled when I read a happy birthday wish from one of my favorite authors - thanks Janice!

I forgot to say my dad's book is still my favorite. I can't wait for you all to read it.

I haven't read the Tamora Pierce books yet, but I'll give them a look. I got a 25$ gift certificate from Amazon for my birthday - how cool is that! I'm sure I'll have it all spent by the end of the day.

Thanks again and happy birthday to ME! :)

Barbara Watson said...

Fantastic interview! I have a daughter your age, Malorie! She'd would LOVE to meet Brandon Mull!

J.A. Paul said...

Happy Birthday Malorie! Thanks for sharing all your great advice. I have a son your age and he just received a copy of first book in the Healing Wars series and of course he also loves Percy Jackson...

Thanks for doing the interview!

Nicole Zoltack said...

Happy Birthday Malorie!

Kiki Hamilton said...

Happy Birthday Malorie! and thanks for the great interview! I want to see Brandon Mull too!!

Kiki Hamilton said...

Happy Birthday Malorie! and thanks for the great interview! I want to see Brandon Mull too!!

Anonymous said...

Great interview!

TerryLynnJohnson said...

I also loved Percy Jackson and the Healing Wars. How lucky to see Brandon Mull! Thanks for this interview, ladies! Happy Birthday Malorie!

Elana Johnson said...

Happy late birthday! What a great interview!